Absolutely in Love
by Sunshinegirl010
Summary: Aria may not have been perfect, or honest, or even remotely sane, but…she was mine. That has been something I have never taken lightly. I just know that what we had was special and, at the time, just what I needed, because out of all the people in this world, I found her and she found me. And together, we were absolutely, without a doubt, in love. A/U Rated T for now!


_Here is that new story I promised! I'm a little afraid, because I know that this may not be what some of you had in mind, but this is what has been swirling in my head for forever! I have to get it out! So here you go! _

_**Ezra**_

_August 1, 2028_

Aria came to me like a summer storm and was gone just as quickly. It never occurred to me that what we had was so potent, so powerful, that it would lead me down a path that I would never return from. And though we began awkwardly and ended with just as much tension; the middle is where we truly thrived.

Aria and I were magic in every sense of the word. She grasped my roots that were firmly planted in the ground and threw them on a fire, forcing me to begin as a sapling in the spring breeze. She found me when I needed her most, as I did the same for her. I made her look at herself and think twice, a thought so foreign to her it may as well have been Latin. And while I should envy her for it, and at times I do, she made me reckless, but taught me to look at the sky and think it was the limit. Because in her world, second chances were slim and was love not something you took lightly but threw your whole being into and never gave it a passing glance.

Walking into my classroom fifteen years ago, I didn't know the whirlwind my life was about to become. I had no clue of the stolen glances and kisses that were in my near future. All I knew was that I was a new teacher, scared out of my mind and hoping to god I didn't screw this up.

What began as an experiment quickly became my career when I found how much I enjoyed it. Teaching was never something I had even remotely considered. I'd always assumed that educating the bright minds of our future wasn't something to be taken lightly, or put into my hands for that matter. In college; however, when I was placed in my first English Literature class, it was the closest thing to having an epiphany that I had ever experienced in my life. Up to that point of course.

I suddenly discovered Hemingway, who was witty and ironic; Poe, whose sinister plots gave me, chills; and Shakespeare, whose characters, no matter how malicious, you never could hate.

I suddenly wanted to tell everyone about these amazing plots and people. I wanted to tell them how much they could teach you and mold you if you let the words travel through your soul, forever changing the way you thought, felt, and saw the world. In realizing I'd never been shown this compassion for literature in school, I found teaching. In finding teaching, I found Aria.

My very first impression of Aria was her laugh. I remember it making my head turn; I'd never heard a laugh so pristine, so clear. It was almost like bells ringing on a crisp winter morning. It intrigued me to find a laugh so refreshing, but the true beginning of the story is when I turned around. I remember the exact seat the exact row the exact distance from the window that her desk rested.

She wore a black dress with a crème colored leather jacket layered on top. Her hair fell in these long delicate waves that I would later learn the joys of running my hands through. She sat at attention in that desk, third row back two columns from the window, and I fought with all of my best tactics to keep my eyes from wandering to that damn seat for our whole first day of class together.

Charismatic and new, Aria was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Even before I truly knew her, she still enchanted me, making me want to know her name, her passion, and the reason for the quirky clothes she wore. Walking into my classroom, she took her place in the second row, fourth chair back, placing her books on the table before her.

I don't know what made her so different from all of the other seventeen year old girls surrounding her. Maybe it was her quirky clothing or the smile that graced her face when I would mention a book that we would be reading that she obviously enjoyed. Thinking back though, I think it was for the simple reason of how intriguing she seemed, guarded almost, like she had all of the secrets in the entire world bottled up inside her. It only made me want to open her up and find out exactly what was behind those hazel eyes.

Little did I know just what I was getting myself into when I finally began to pry. Still, nothing in the world could ever make me trade what Aria and I had together. And god did we have something special.

It wasn't just in the simple way we could spend time together, it was so much more than that. She opened up a part of me that I didn't know existed, giving me a life that I never knew I could live. I long for those days in my apartment, when we enjoyed the limited time we had, pretending we really there just to go over her senior project. However we both knew that something more was happening there. Something that was sure to destroy us.

I realize that I sound a bit maudlin, but where can I begin to find the words that can express the loneliness I felt for years. There is nothing worse than when you love someone and they leave you. I'm hoping these words will allow me a peace that I have not known in years.

My father once told me that living in the past was fruitless. There is nothing you can ever do to change it, so why dwell on it? He was trying to get me to move on. He knew that there was someone that was keeping me from finding new happiness and I see where he was coming from. But I couldn't forget her and no matter how much pain dwelling in the past caused me, I still see that statement horrifically wrong.

While our pasts are full of mistakes and fears and roads not taken-they are also filled with memories and triumphs, and moments that none of us would trade the world for. And in my past I possessed Aria, who held enough of my memories that she may as well be considered my past, and regretfully not my future nor present.

The memory of Aria is bittersweet enough to make me cling to that time in my life forever. To let go of Aria would be to forget the only true happiness I'd ever had. Though our circumstances were far from so, our love was so inspiringly epic, that it would be a crime to not give our story a life in sentences and on paper so that it may be cherished for forever and never be forgotten or pushed away just because it was our past.

Aria for the time I had her, meant the world to me. She gave me answers to myself that I'd asked for, for years and gave me a new meaning of the world to me.

Despite all of this; the time we shared, the laughs we had, the lessons we taught, I still sit here, an old man (relatively), lonely, and writing these words of nostalgia, trying to grasp onto something that was as fleeting as Aria. She may not have been perfect, or honest, or even remotely sane, but…she was _mine._ That has been something I have never taken lightly.

I just know that what we had was special and, at the time, just what I needed, because out of all the people in this world, I found her and she found me. And together, we were absolutely, without a doubt, in love.

_Okay guys, just something new I am trying! I hope you guys enjoy it! I have really missed writing for PLL and have decided that I shall return! Yay! Please give me feed back because this is an A/U story, but if you'll just give it a chance, I do think that you will like it! I realize this is a bit bittersweet, but no worries, the actual story will be of them together. Also, with the bittersweet direction the show has taken, I think this is kind of appropriate. Anyway just review and let me know what you think. _

_-Katherine_


End file.
